


you broke me first

by NoxWrites



Series: Eivor/Randvi [1]
Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla - Fandom
Genre: Angst, F!Eivor - Freeform, F/F, Female Eivor (Assassin's Creed), Fluff, Not A Happy Ending, Pre Valhalla, but like its not an ending, it just leads into the video game ya know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:01:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27599963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoxWrites/pseuds/NoxWrites
Summary: Randvi’s clan was a sworn enemy of Raven Clan until King Styrbjorn proposed a peace between the two warring clans. A peace that would one day be joined by a union of Randvi and someone befitting her station.Eivor has little care for the scared girl who Styrbjorn announces will be the bringer of peace between Raven clan and her people. But days turn to weeks which turn to months and people change.orpre valhalla au
Relationships: Eivor/Randvi (Assassin's Creed)
Series: Eivor/Randvi [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023928
Comments: 26
Kudos: 321





	you broke me first

**Author's Note:**

> A few notes!
> 
> Randvi’s name could mean so many things good lord is it abundant, but Devoted Shield was the most accurate one I could deduce from possibilities. Should a Ubisoft employee come out and say otherwise I’ll change it then. 
> 
> Randvi’s clan is just a shot in the dark. Feel free to also choose Bear Clan if you write about her and her clan. Or don’t, choose whoever you’d like. You can even choose to keep her dad’s name the same if you’d like, his name literally just means Bear. He is Bear of the Bear Clan. 
> 
> Enjoy!

She was an energized child. Sitting at the dais with Sigurd and Styrbjorn beside her. She was pushed to the end of the table as was expected, a daughter of Styrbjorn in name only, a sister of Sigurd in name only. Her feet swung beneath the table, her childish energy building as she was forced to sit at a meeting meant for the betterment of the clan. 

Her spine straightened as she felt a kick against her right leg. She peered over but Styrbjorn faced forward, hands cupped as kingly as he can be, eyes glued to the long house doors. Sigurd, on the other hand, smirked like a pup with a new toy and Eivor felt another kick to her shin. She glared at him in surprise, trying to kick back beneath the table. 

On her third attempt she bumped her knee into the table, causing the bowls and plates to rumble before it settled down. Styrbjorn glared at her with a warning in his eyes. She lowered her head in shame, locking her ankles together to contain them. Sigurd tried to hold back a laugh but failed, earning him a hit to his shoulder from his father. 

The doors to the long house opened, letting the midday light warm the hall as guards held the doors. Warriors of the Bear Clan stalked forward, burly and hairy as Eivor suspected. She wondered if they all could turn to bears or just their berserkers. Behind the row of warriors came the biggest beast of them all. A muscled man with his chest on display, a large roaring bear inked on his chest, a beard a foot off his chin tied with small adornments, and fiery hair let loose and wild. He stepped in time with what Eivor could only describe as a scared cub clenching at its father's haunches. She was a small thing, somewhere between Eivor and Sigurd’s age, fiery hair of her own but contained in a beautiful braid, wearing a fanciful dress of dark green the bears favored. If Eivor was more a princess than a warrior she perhaps might have been jealous, but she cared not for dresses and silks. 

“Jarl Bjarke, welcome to Fornburg!” Styrbjorn stood, motioning slowly for Sigurd and Eivor to join him. 

Ever the dutiful son and indebted adopted daughter, the two stood from their chairs and gave a respectful bow before seating themselves once more. Bjarke stormed forward, standing in front of the hearth with his timid cub at his side. His warriors filled the hall with him, guarding his sides and back. When Bjarke nodded Styrbjorn sat himself back upon his wooden throne. 

“I am honored at your invitation to visit your beautiful home, King Styrbjorn.” His deep growling voice boomed in the enclosed longhouse. “If my men are correct you propose peace, do you not?”

“I do, jarl. This bloodshed between our clans has gone long enough. We have more enemies among the seas and lands and we would be stronger united than divided. I propose not only peace but a union of our great clans.” Styrbjorn’s arms were spread wide in a gesture of openness. 

Bjarke’s eyes flitted from the king to the young children then to the guards of Raven Clan who stood amongst the long house. “Aye, our enemies grow. What is this union and how would it benefit my clan?”

Styrbjorn stood, walked around the table and came to halt in front of Bjarke. He placed a hand on Bjarke’s shoulder, the position awkward as Bjarke was easily a foot taller than the king. 

“Your clan would become my clan. My allies, your allies.”

“Your enemies, Our enemies.” Bjarke growled, glaring at the hand on his shoulder. 

“But we already share common enemies, the wisest decision would be to share common allies, and to build our power together. I propose a unionship. Your daughter when the time is right, would wed someone of equal standing as befitting her station. Thus bonding our two clans forevermore and ending the bloodshed of our people.” 

The room grew quiet, Eivor leaned forward in her seat as she watched closely. Styrbjorn held his chest out in a play at being larger, holding his station over the larger man’s head. Sigurd sat back in his chair, his hand running against his chin and growing facial hair. The Raven guards all tightened their grip on their pikes and axes. The Bears tightened their fists.  _ Perhaps one would shift now _ , Eivor hoped. 

It did not happen, instead Bjarke stuck out his hand and Styrbjorn took it with a tight grip and a hefty shake. The deal sealed just like that. Eivor let out a heavy breath, unaware how her lungs burned at the lack of air as she sat in nervousness. Styrbjorn let go and turned around, arms up in the air in joy. 

“Let’s break out the good mead! A feast is the proper way to celebrate a union of our great clans!” 

Sigurd slapped the table in glee, any chance of ale was good to him. Eivor watched as the timid cub pressed closer to her father as the men all around let out shouts and hollers. The girl’s eyes were closed tight until the shouts dwindled down and the guards rushed to get food and let the entire Burg know. She blinked as an owl would before her gaze landed on Eivor, beautiful dazzling grey blue eyes as if she was gifted with the thunderclouds of Thor inside her. Eivor turned quickly away, scurrying away from the dais to go find Sigurd and help with the mead. 

—

Sigurd left three days after the feast to go a vikingr. Eivor huffed in frustration as she stood behind the stables of Fornburg, throwing axes into hay targets. One flew a foot above where she wished and landed behind the target. She growled before setting off in a jog to retrieve it. Her hair swayed with each step, it began to grow and she had failed to cut it, no longer caring to keep it short like her father had. She brushed it out of her face as she passed the target. The loose hay was kicked around and it took her a moment to find her axe, buried in a pile feet behind the target.  _ Good power, just needs better aim _ , she thought to herself. 

With a turn on her heel she set off back to her throwing line. Almost tripping over her feet she came to a skidding halt as the cub had shown herself, looking around like a lost… well, cub. Randvi. That was her name according to Sigurd.  _ Devoted shield _ , Eivor recalled. A protector is what she would be, Eivor sensed it. A protector would need to grow from being a fearful bear cub. 

A part of Eivor wished to just retire from throwing today, perhaps she would go train in the woods beyond Fornburg. Maybe find a reindeer or two, come home with something to eat. Styrbjorn would be proud.  _ He would also be proud of someone making sure the cub- Randvi was okay _ , she noted. With a grumble she stomped forward, loud enough Randvi could hear her coming from a mile away. 

The cub turned to face Eivor and for a moment Eivor thought she saw a hint of a smile. “Good day, Eivor.” 

Eivor was confused why her heart clenched. “Are you lost?” 

If a smile was there it was surely gone as Randvi’s lips turned to a frown and she stared at the ground. “Oh, no. My father went hunting with a few of the guards here. I’m just trying to get to know the village better.” 

Eivor sighed, good she didn’t need help. “Okay then.” 

Eivor rounded to face her targets again, adjusting her grip on her axe for better precision. With a single pull behind her head she threw her weight forward and let the axe go, it twirled through the air before sinking into the target. Just a half a foot from the center. She pumped her fist and jogged over to the target to retrieve the axe once more. Upon turning around Randvi had gotten closer, now sitting on a stack of hay Eivor had decided not to use as a target. Eivor’s brows furrowed in confusion. 

“What are you doing?” Randvi asked with a childish innocence no one her age should have. 

“Throwing.” Eivor turned about face, back to the girl.

Eivor nearly let the axe loose but Randvi’s voice trickled into her ears. “You might have better aim if your hair was out of your face.”

Eivor’s stance slackened, her grip on her axe loose, and her head pointed to the ground. She ran her other hand through the matted locks of blonde. Randvi slid back on the hay an inch before patting at the open space between her legs. 

“I’ll braid it for you.” Randvi’s smile was definitely there this time. 

Eivor’s grip tightened, everything in her body urged her to turn away from the girl and go back to practice. Forget the cub, just throw. But a thunderous cloud in her heart urged her forward, in between Randvi’s legs with her back to the girl. Her axe on the ground as she waited, impatiently, for Randvi to braid her hair. 

Randvi seemed to take her sweet time, humming a tune as she weaved her fingers through Eivor’s hair. The feeling made Eivor’s muscles melt. She felt herself fall into a slouch as Randvi’s nails just scratched the surface of her scalp. She bit back a moan as Randvi pulled a handful of hair particularly hard, her lip was sore when she let it go. 

“Why don’t you just braid it yourself?”

Eivor’s muscles froze, her slouch turned to a straight spine and stiff posture. “I don’t know how.”

It was a mumble but it was all Randvi would get. 

“I couldn’t hear you.” Eivor could feel Randvi twisting and weaving her hair together. 

“I don’t know how.” It came as a breath, a hostage in her chest that came loose without permission. Eivor couldn’t see Randvi behind her but she could feel the stare that bore through the back of her head. “My mother and father died when I was nine. I used to keep it short like my father. No one ever taught me how to braid.” 

Randvi’s fingers stilled in her hair, but only for a moment before they began their work again. Twisting and weaving. Soon Eivor’s hair was braided with elegance, completely out of her face and tightly wound. Randvi seemed to have taken a few rings from her fingers and used them as decoration every few inches in her hair. 

“All done.” Randvi tapped Eivor’s shoulder. 

Eivor didn’t take a second to thank her, she just fled from the back of the stables. Racing to her home, she locked the door behind her, looking about her empty one bed home. Large enough for parents and a child but now hollow with a ghost living inside. She leaned against the door and slid to the ground. It was the first time in three years she had spoken of her mother. Why? Why did she share that? And with the cub no less. 

A knock startled her from spiraling, it pulled her back to the land of the living. She wiped at her cheeks, damp from tears she did not give permission to fall. 

“Eivor.” Her voice was so soft, it was a fire’s warmth after a week hunting in a blizzard. “Thank you. For sharing about your mother. My mother died giving birth to me, I know it’s not the same but I know it’s hard to talk about them when they’re not here. Maybe tomorrow I can teach you how to braid and you can braid my hair.” 

Eivor’s eyes and cheeks were wet once again, damn this cub. She pressed herself close, holding her knees to her chest. 

“Have a goodnight Eivor. Sweet dreams.”

—

Eivor couldn’t do much better than a standard simple braid. Nothing fancy just a twist of three strands of hair. Randvi said she loved it though, she never took it out. If it came loose she begged Eivor for another. If Eivor went hunting or on a patrol Randvi demanded Eivor to sit and let her braid her wild blonde locks. 

Randvi learned everyone’s names in the village quickly, she made friends even quicker. It hurt. Eivor was marred by a fire and a wolf, two bad omens from a horrible night. It wasn’t that no one liked her but she knew what they said. She was only there because Sigurd and her were friends. She wasn’t Styrbjorn’s daughter. She wasn’t Sigurd’s sister. That one hurt the most. She never claimed to be Styrbjorn’s daughter, she would be Varinsdottir until she died but Sigurd had never made her feel less than a sister. He pulled her from the frigid icy water after she killed the wolf. He paraded her through town as Wolf-Kissed, Slayer of Wolves, and in secret to each other the Wolf Clan’s Doom once she was ready. But not everyone took to her. She was standoffish, a brute, rude. All things Sigurd said were what would make her a great drengr, and she was. She was only 12 when she dragged home her first elk for a feast. Styrbjorn had never been more proud, she almost felt like a daughter but she shut those thoughts quickly. 

But now, now Randvi spent less time with her. Months had passed since Randvi’s arrival and the clans uniting. Months of braids and training and laughing and sometimes tears in Eivor’s haunted hut when memories were too heavy for a single soul to bear. With these months came Randvi introducing Eivor to new people, people Eivor already knew but acted as if they were just meeting as if they didn’t live in the same town for the past three years. People who Eivor knew had sad slanted words behind her back, people who whispered about the teeth marks on her skull. People Eivor didn’t care for, and she made that clear to Randvi. Or, she thought she did. 

Randvi would ask for her to join in adventures and games around the town but it always came with additional people. How Eivor longed to take Randvi to the peaks beyond their seer’s hut. To show Randvi the grove that young reindeer wander during their first shedding seasons. To show Randvi the caves where on nights of full moon’s at the midnight hour the ice lit the cave the colors of the rainbow bridge to Asgard itself. But Eivor would not share these pieces of herself with others. None deserved to see them but Randvi and herself. 

“Please, Eivor.” Randvi pleaded in a melodic song. 

Eivor lugged bales of hay around the barn, heaving them on top of others. “No, Randvi. I’m helping out at the stables now and then I’m training. Go with your  _ friends _ if you want to go so badly.” 

“They could be your friends too.” Randvi bit back, it was the first time Eivor had seen the bear behind the cub. “You’re so stubborn. Sigurd and I can’t be your only friends.”

Eivor pushed a hay bale back to make room for another and growled, “I don’t have friends. Sigurd’s my brother. And you’re… you’re-“

“I’m what, Eivor?” Randvi crossed her arms in front of her chest. 

_ My heart? My best friend? The one thing I care about other than Sigurd? _ Eivor shook the thoughts from her head. “You’re just a girl.”

“So are you, Eivor.” Randvi had gotten closer to Eivor, pushing her shoulders and making Eivor stumble into hay. 

“Fuck off, Randvi! I don’t want to spend time with you, don’t you get it? I don’t care. I don’t need friends and I don’t want them!” Eivor stood upright, brushing the loose hay from her clothes. 

When she glanced over her shoulder she wasn’t expecting Randvi to have one hand clutching her heart through her clothes or for her to be near tears. Eivor bit her tongue in anger, nearly severing the muscle. 

“Randvi, I-“

Randvi’s hand rose to keep space between them. “You said what you needed to. I get it now.”

So it was on a night months after Randvi had come where Eivor found herself struggling to sleep, a new recurring issue. After Randvi was too tired to go home one night she stayed with Eivor and Eivor can’t recall a time since she’s lost her parents when she slept so peacefully. On this night it seemed even sleep would not come to her, she would much prefer her nightmare fueled sleeps to this restlessness. 

With a growl she shoved the furs off of herself, kicking out of bed and trudging out of the house. She grumbled to herself, growling and irritated as she wandered through the sleeping town. Guards gave their nods as she passed them, more of a way to say they were still awake than anything else. 

Eivor wandered through the marketplace, her eyes fluttering from one object to the next. It was too cold to stay still or focus on one thing for too long. Her eyes did gaze upon a smooth blackened stone which shone with all of the colors in the world under fire light. With a quick check around herself she pocketed the stone before rushing back to her house. She locked her house before stoking the flames of her dying hearth. A quick toss saw the stone in the bowl she typically uses for stews and broths. 

Throughout the night Eivor melted away into the work. Her fingers burning as she touched the roaring hot rock, her knife heating as she dug it into the malleable metal. Her muscles ached with the force of it, she couldn’t run to the smith’s kiln so her fire was not as hot as it should be but it was hot enough the girl had to take off her extra layers before she suffered from exhaustion. With hisses of pain and sticking her burnt fingers in her mouth to soothe them, Eivor carved onto the stone a fierce raven circled with a bear. With a final sigh Eivor tossed a last log into the hearth before she rolled over to her bed. 

She let sleep take her, the stone cooling off on a table near the hearth. She slept through the day and almost into the night when a slamming at her door woke her. She nearly fell from bed as the banging persisted. With a grumble she stood on wary feet, still heavy with sleep, and she pulled open her now unlocked door. 

“Eivor, you’re alright.” Styrbjorn spoke with genuine surprise to his voice. 

Eivor’s face contorted in a sleep hazed confusion. “What?”

“You didn’t come for training and no one saw you working the stables. I thought best to check here before sending a search party. Randvi would have had my head if I didn’t at least look myself.” Styrbjorn chuckled with a hand on his belly. 

Eivor’s eyes widened. “Randvi! Where is she?”

“Last I saw she was arguing with one of my guards who thought he saw you last night.” Styrbjorn could say nothing more, Eivor had turned around to grab something and then bolted from the house. 

She rushed down the village, pushing past others and leaping over obstacles to find Randvi glaring at a guard who was raising his hands in surrender as he garbled something about last night. 

Eivor grabbed Randvi by the arm, waved goodbye to the guard for her and pulled her along. Behind some huts and shops Eivor stopped and took a deep breath. 

“What do you want, Eivor? You already said you don’t care about me.” Randvi’s posture stiffened, her arms once more crossed her chest and her voice was thick with anger. 

“I’m stupid.” Eivor breathed out. 

One of Randvi’s eyebrows raised, “What?”

“I’m stupid. I don’t get along with anyone here, no one likes me so I don’t like them but you’re different. I do like you Randvi, and I care about you. I was stupid to say anything otherwise and I was stupid to hurt you with my words.” Eivor pulled the stone from her pocket, a long piece of twine running through a hole Eivor had carved at the top. 

Randvi feigned disinterest until Eivor pulled forth the stone. With a glance to Eivor’s hand to Eivor’s eyes she shrugged her shoulders. Eivor walked around Randvi, pushed her braid to the side and wrapped the twine around her neck. 

“It’s a raven and a bear. It’s you and me, forever.” Eivor gave the twine a soft tug to finish the knot. 

Randvi’s hands were already fiddling with the stone as it sat in the joining of her collar bones. “You still haven’t apologized.”

Eivor laughed. “I’m so sorry.”

Randvi nodded. “I didn’t think about your past with these people. I just wanted to do more things with you but it came with the requirements of people other than you and me. I still want to be friends with these people.”

“I won’t stop you from being friends with them. I’ll even try to come with you some times. It’s just going to take time.” Eivor came to face Randvi once more. 

The two embraced and Eivor felt her heart beat wildly as it tended to do in Randvi’s presence. But it was a calm wild call as Eivor and her heart found peace in Randvi’s arms. 

—

A year into the Raven and Bear union and the Bear clan saw first hand the mighty parties of the Raven clan. Styrbjorn’s final winter festival feast was always a party. From Denmark to Jotunheim, they could hear the celebrations of Fornburg. Dancing, cheering, singing. All was done on the longest night of winter. Drinking, wrestling, kissing. 

Eivor found herself in the midst of many of these activities. One of which was nearly lip locked with a young girl whose name Eivor couldn’t recall. She was nearing her lips to the other girls when her beast of a heart growled at her. It stormed in the other direction, making her chest ache as it pulled her away from the girl. 

“Sorry, I just have to-“ She pointed outside and the girl assumed whatever she assumed but Eivor disappeared into the shadows of a winter night. 

Her head ached and her heart warred with herself. The girl was cute enough, her hair not as red as Eivor would have liked and her eyes less storm grey, more icy blue but she was cute. It wasn’t like it would be her first kiss, nor would it be her last. Yet her heart fought her every second. She shook her head to free herself of some of the ale stupor she was in but it simply made her dizzy. Nearly crashing into some boxes behind the longhouse Eivor stumbled to stand upright. A crate falling over drew her attention to moving shadows. 

“No,” A familiar chuckle broke the silence of the night. “Quit it.”

Eivor took cautious steps forward, behind the longhouse Eivor saw two figures pressed against the back wall. A familiar red braid with her back to the wall, a younger boy in front of her with both arms by her head, trapping her. 

“Come on, no one has to know.” Svend’s voice was slurred, laced with mead Eivor presumed. 

“I can’t-“

“Get off of her, Svend.” Eivor growled, in the shadow of the hall with only the moonlight kissing the outline of her features she was a growling wolf with teeth as sharp as knives to the drunken lad. 

“Woah, woah. Who the hell are you?” But even drunken lads didn’t know well enough to flee from a wolf. 

“Fuck off, Svend. Go home, you reek of ale.” Eivor came closer, the light not better but with the shortened distance Svend could see her. 

He pulled his hands back, only to keep his balance as he bent over to laugh. “Oh, it’s just you, Eivor. I almost thought it was someone important.”

Eivor shoved her shoulder into the boy, he was three years her senior but she didn’t care at this point. Randvi was still up against the wall, shaking. 

“Fuck off, Eivor.” Svend pulled on Eivor’s shoulder, trying to pull the girl away from Randvi. 

Eivor shook free from his grasp before turning and punching him in the chest. He stumbled backwards, coughing up a lung.

“What the fuck? I said fuck off Wolf Pissed.” Svend came a step closer but Eivor slammed her elbow into his stomach this time. 

He fell to the ground, coughing and heaving but nothing was left in him to heave. She shook her head and looked at Randvi who was staring at her own hands which rubbed together in worry. 

“Are you okay?” Eivor’s voice had never felt so soft. 

Randvi’s brows furrowed before they relaxed. “Can we go home?” 

“I’ll take you to your house.” Eivor put one of her hands in Randvi’s and tugged but the girl didn’t move. 

“No, I want to stay with you tonight.” 

Eivor couldn’t smell alcohol on her as she did with Svend but her mind was confused all the same. She had to think a moment, her mind faltering on all the words she could possibly say, suddenly sober. She settled for a nod and together they walked back up towards Eivor’s house. 

Eivor held the door open for Randvi, letting her walk about the large open area. Eivor watched her movements with a cautious eye as she took off her now snow covered clothes to replace them. She checked once to see Randvi standing by the low lit hearth before she turned away to lift her tunic over her head. Already the snow had melted into the fabric turning it wet and cold. She tossed it on the ground and began to scrounge for another but quick hands found their way to Eivor’s uncovered back. 

The touch burnt Eivor’s core and lit her soul on fire. The soft hands pressed against light scars from fights and hunts, ghosting over the burn on her neck, before they fell back down and wrapped around her waist to settle on her hips. They tightened their hold and Eivor found herself pressed against Randvi’s front. Eivor’s own hands stopped searching for a shirt and fell on top of Randvi’s hands which now teased Eivor’s pant line. 

“When I first saw you, I think I fell in love.” Randvi’s voice was hot on her ear. “A wild raven, the Wolf-Kissed, who survived Kjotve’s attack. But not once did you look my way when the feast started. I thought I slighted you in some way. I spent days trying to find you, you were hiding behind the stables all along.”

“Randvi,” Eivor sighed as Randvi’s thumbs pressed against Eivor’s abdomen. 

“I’m still in love with you. I try and I try to think of others. To fall in love with others. Anyone else. I don’t know who I’m going to marry but I know I won’t love them as much as I love you.” Randvi pressed a kiss to Eivor’s neck, right near the edge of the burn. 

Eivor’s toes curled and her heart slammed into the cage her chest had now become. “How much ale-“

“Not a drop.” Randvi slipped her fingers beneath the band of Eivor’s pants. “We don’t have to do anything. I just need you to know.”

“We don’t have to-“ Eivor laughed as Randvi dragged her nails from the top of Eivor’s thighs to her hip bones. “You tease me.”

“I love you.” Randvi whispered again and Eivor bit her lip, stepping back in the embrace.

Eivor felt Randvi grow cold, her hands stilling and her muscles stiffening. She turned in Randvi’s grip, facing the woman who stood behind her with her eyes closed and her mouth open. Eivor wanted those lips, oh so badly she ached for them. 

“I love you.” Eivor whispered, claiming Randvi’s lips for herself. 

Ragnarok could have begun any moment and it would not pull Eivor from Randvi’s lips. Soft, supple lips which warmed her better than any flame or sun ever could. Hands which dragged down her back, resting just above her rear. Eivor’s own hands raised, one cupping Randvi’s jaw and another scratching at the back of her neck. Randvi moaned into Eivor’s lips, a sound so addictive Eivor needed it again. She tugged on the small hairs Eivor never seemed to braid properly and Randvi hissed and moaned. When Eivor’s lungs begged and pleaded to the point of near death Eivor pulled away. Her chest ached in so many ways. Her ribs ached from her heart beating against its cage like a rabid monster. Her lungs ached from lack of air but it all felt so warm inside. 

“Come to bed with me.” Eivor whispered, foregoing her shirt as she tugged Randvi toward the bed. 

Randvi simply nodded and followed Eivor. That night with just the moon as their witness they whispered sweet loves and cares into each other's lips while stealing the breath from another with a kiss. 

Eivor’s raging heart calmed. 

—

Eivor’s leg bounced with excitement. Back from her first short distance raid but she was already longing for more. She ached to see the rest of the lands of the world but her heart ached more. 

A month, it had been a month away from Randvi. Her hair had grown, she’d gained a few scars, and she missed Randvi dearly. 

A horn bellowed in the wind and Eivor’s head shot up to see just around the bend of the river the Fornburg watch tower came into view. The bought roared in glee, stomping their feet against the hull to sound their arrival and echoing a call of victory. None lost and many riches gained. 

They came to a smooth halt at the dock, ropes being tossed to villagers who helped tie them down. All at once it was a rush to get off the boat they had called home for the past thirty days. Eivor waited until the boat stopped shaking before she began to disembark, knowing her prize was not on the boat nor the docks. Warriors all patted her on her back as she passed, congratulations for her first raid. She smiled and held her axe up with a war cry before finally slipping away from the growing group of villagers who came to see the arrival of family and friends. 

With haste she rushed up through the village and to a hut set behind most others. In her absence the small haunted thing seemed to have grown with life. Flowers in a box of soil beneath the window beside her door. Fresh paint on the main beams of the house structure. A fresh flag of the Raven clan blowing above the door. Drying herbs hang from another window. 

Eivor’s steps slowed, cautious to keep quiet with each new step. Her hands pressed with a gentle pressure against the door, it slipped open without worry. Inside the hut bathed in the light of a warm blazing hearth. The pot bubbled with a fresh stew. Clothes were put away in an orderly fashion, not a mess thrown about the ground in haste. A woman sat at a table, writing away furiously on a parchment. 

Eivor stepped closer, encroaching behind the unsuspecting woman. With a leap she wrapped her arms around her, pulled her off the bench and into the air. A delighted squeal left the woman’s lips. Eivor laughed in glee as she swung her prize around the home. 

“Writing me poems, my love?”

Randvi turned on Eivor as soon as her feet were on the ground. “You? A monstrous raider? No, no. These are for my sweet love, a gentle soul.” 

Eivor let out a hearty laugh before she pulled Randvi close. In time Eivor had found herself taller than the older woman, her eyes now bore down on Randvi in beguiling awe. 

“Tell me the name of this love, I’ll cut them and bleed them dry. I’ll make a blood eagle of them. None shall have you but me.” Eivor laughed between bursts of fake growls. 

Randvi’s head fell against her shoulder, burrowing in Eivor’s neck. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I was only gone a month, my love.” Eivor wrapped her arms around Randvi, together they swayed in place in the little house. 

“Don’t jest. I was worried about you.” Randvi hits Eivor with a playful push to her opposite shoulder. 

Eivor leans her head onto Randvi, placing a kiss atop her hair. “I missed you too, so much. I thought of you every day.” 

“Will the crew need you?” Randvi pulled her head from its resting spot to stare at Eivor. 

“They’re bringing the gold to Styrbjorn, there might be a feast but I have a better prize.” Eivor smirked as she leaned her forehead against Randvi, their noses brushing in an intimate moment. 

“Good, then you can take me to bed like a proper vikingr raider.” Randvi whispered between them, voice deep and husky. 

She pushed off of Eivor and walked backwards to the bed. Eivor shuffled backwards, hands reaching out for the door with no guidance until finally she slammed it shut. Randvi pulled off her cloak, tossing it to the side, and sat laid back upon the bed. Eivor stalked towards her, a wolf on a hunt. 

“I love you,” Eivor whispered before claiming Randvi’s lips in a deep kiss, pushing Randvi back onto the bed and taking her hands in her own. 

It was deep in the night as Randvi traced the lines of Eivor’s muscles when they had taken a break. Clothes thrown everywhere, furs littering the floor and the meal Randvi had been cooking had gone cold. Eivor sat with her back against the headboard. Randvi’s head rested between her breasts, light kisses grazing the flesh once in a while. They laid as the moon rose and began to shine through the windows. 

“Your timing is fortunate. Sigurd is to return tomorrow as well. His two year trip comes to an end.” Randvi’s fingers dance on Eivor’s skin. 

“Hm, once he’s recovered perhaps I’ll ask him to take me on his next expedition.” Eivor mused as she stared at the moon. 

Randvi shifted between her legs, turning to press her front against Eivor’s front, staring at each other. “But not for two years.” 

Eivor noted the plea in her voice, it made her smile. “Never, I could hardly stand a month from you.” 

Randvi smiled and fell atop Eivor’s breasts again, a plush pillow for the cub to rest. “Maybe you start training me and I could accompany you on your next raid.”

Eivor’s smile grew tenfold, her arms tightened around Randvi. “That, I would love to see. My little bear roaring as the fires of battle rage behind you.” 

Together they slipped down the bed. Eivor grasped for furs to drape over themselves. With a warm fur blanket and their bodies entwined, the two fell asleep with smiles on their faces. 

—

“As my son returns, he comes with gifts of gold and great news.” Styrbjorn motioned for Sigurd to come to the front of the dais. 

Sigurd stood proud next to his father, Eivor looked on from the table nearest them. Randvi across the way, stealing glances at each other. Sigurd pulled a gold arm band from his pocket. 

“From raiding to pillaging, from sailing to fishing, I have done many things in my life. But I have always done them alone. Waiting for my other half, but I was so blinded that when my other half appeared I ran for the sea like a scared child. I run, no more.” He looked to his father who gave an encouraging nod. “Randvi of the Bear Clan-“

Eivor’s grip on her mead faltered, the cup fell to the floor as Sigurd stepped down from the dais. Her ears rang with the chiming of a high pitch bell, her vision tunneling as he approached Randvi. Her muscles contracted as he offered the golden band. 

“- and marry me?”

No one waited for the reply, the longhouse erupted in cheers and shouts. Eivor glanced to see Randvi slack jawed and staring at her. A quick glance to Styrbjorn enraged Eivor further, his face was sullen but he was resolute in this action.

“A feast! For the man and wife!” Styrbjorn shouted and as servants rushed about his eyes fell on Eivor. 

A shame passed his face and Eivor stood in anger, the bench she was seated on kicked from under her. He walked behind the dais to the room at the back of the longhouse used for war and raid preparations. Eivor stormed past servants and guards, caring not for Sigurd’s smiling face looking for his sister. She slammed her fist into the war table as Styrbjorn rounded it. 

“Eivor-“

“What did I do?” Eivor’s voice quivered. 

“What?” Styrbjorn looked up to her in confusion. 

“I had to have done something to make you hate me, so what did I do? Tell me, I’ll never do it again. I’ll fix it. What did I do?” Eivor’s nails dug into the wood of the table. 

Styrbjorn shook his head and let out a pitiful sigh. “Eivor, you’ve done nothing wrong. You’re a great drengr, a monumental help to the village, but-“ 

Eivor’s grip loosened at the realization. “But I’m not blood.”

His eyes said all that was needed. Eivor’s heart broke. “I’m just an orphan girl with no clan left. Our union would mean nothing. The Bear Clan could turn in an instant despite two years of peace. I’m nothing to this clan.”

“Eivor.” 

“How long?”

“Eivor-“

“How long!”

“It was my plan from the beginning. I never meant to hurt you or the girl, but Sigurd ran and I had to wait.” He let out a scoff, “Of all people. You’re stubborn and rude to everyone but the one girl you should have avoided you fell in love.”

Eivor left him there, storming out of the room and through the now feasting crowd of warriors. Sigurd held to large cups of ale in his hand, already faulting in his steps. 

“Eivor! Come drink! Let’s celebrate my engagement!” 

Eivor shoulder checked him, shoving past and out of the longhouse. She made it home before her hand hovered at the door. She couldn’t recall seeing Randvi once she left Styrbjorn, she wasn’t near Sigurd when she stormed out. Was she home?

With a gentle push the door swung open. Randvi sat at the table with the golden band in her hands. Her eyes watery as she glanced up at Eivor. 

“I- I-“ 

Eivor rushed to Randvi’s side, kneeling in front of her. She brushed her fingers through Randvi’s hair, hushing her as Randvi’s breathing struggled to stay regular. 

“It’s okay. We’ll figure it out. We can take a long boat, we’ll be gone by tomorrow. Or we can trek into the woods, north to a new home.” Eivor reassured her but Randvi kept shaking her head. 

“We can’t run Eivor. They’ll search for us and when they find me with you, Sigurd will have to kill you. Brother or not. It’s my duty to marry him, to keep our clans together.” 

Eivor’s hands stilled, her breath caught in her throat. “You’re going to marry him?”

Randvi nodded. “In a week. It gives enough time to the jarl’s and king’s to make the journey or send emissaries.”

Eivor never thought her heart could break once already broken and yet it did. The gods were cruel. She shook her head frantically, standing and stepping away from Randvi. 

“Eivor.” 

She fled the house, trudging through the snow covered village to the docks she had just returned to yesterday morning. Oh how the world mocked her. 

From the side she heard the huffs and groans of preparation. She shuffled to the pebbled beach, watching as a few of the drengr from her crew were already prepping another vessel for more raids. Glancing behind her she saw Randvi looking around near the house, she saw the light of joy and festivities from the longhouse. She turned back to the workers. 

“When do we leave?”

It startled one who had his back to Eivor. “Ah, Eivor. Already thirsty for more, aye? We leave in two days. Don’t you want to stay and watch Sigurd get married?”

“Bringing home more gold and resources will be my present for missing it. Add me to the list. I’ll be there.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know how you felt, let me know if you want more. I currently have a jealous!Randvi one shot in the works also a one shot where Sigurd and Eivor fight over Randvi. 
> 
> If you want to learn more about them and just stay generally updated with my Randvi/Eivor exploits and headcanons feel free to check out my tumblr. 
> 
> tumblr: canaries  
> twitter: jukeboxnox  
> curiouscat: jukeboxnox


End file.
